Project Overview

Objective

To evaluate and cost U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) investments in early literacy and access to education in conflict settings in the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region. Under this project, Mathematica conducted eight evaluations across five countries: Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Peru.

Project Motivation

LAC Reads was designed to help ministries of education and other education stakeholders improve early literacy programs and access to education in conflict settings in the LAC region by increasing the availability of, demand for, and capacity to use evidence-based, cost-effective practices.

Partners in Progress

  • Grupo de Análisis para el Desarrollo (GRADE, Peru)
  • Espirálica (Honduras)
  • DMC (Guatemala)
  • Fundación Internacional para el Desafío Económico Global (FIDEG, Nicaragua) 

Prepared For

U.S. Agency for International Development

Mathematica conducted the Agency for International Development (USAID) Latin American and the Caribbean Reading and Education Evaluation Services project to improve early literacy, education and youth workforce development in the LAC region, and to increase the availability of and capacity to use evidence-based, cost-effective practices.

Latin America and the Caribbean Reads (LAC Reads)—an initiative funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)—worked to improve both literacy and access to education in conflict areas, especially among groups of disadvantaged children and youth in conflict areas. Mathematica led one component of the LAC Reads initiative, the LAC Reading and Education Evaluation Services project. Under this project, Mathematica conducted impact evaluations of four reading interventions in Guatemala, Honduras, Peru, and Nicaragua, and three non-experimental studies including a performance evaluation of workforce programs for at-risk youth in El Salvador, an evidence review on the effects of education on violence, crime and related outcomes, and a learning agenda and community of practice with annual reports tracking of workforce development progress in Central America. We worked with local researchers who played important roles in implementing the evaluation and provided technical assistance to build local capacity in conducting and using evaluations.

Through the interventions we tested, we have expanded the evidence base on which in-school and community-level approaches work best and for whom, to improve early grade reading and other education outcomes in the LAC region. As we worked with USAID to uncover insights from LAC Reads, we conducted dissemination efforts to share this expanded education evidence base with researchers, policymakers, educators, and people around the world, so that the evidence can be used to better support early learners, youth, their schools, and their communities. We produced evaluation reports and policy briefs for each evaluation, and synthesis briefs sharing methodological insights and recommendations for carrying out impact evaluations to facilitate learning from across the evaluations. We also held workshops to facilitate learnings in country and within USAID, and public webinars where we synthesized findings from across the evaluation portfolio.

The LAC READS project includes eight evaluations (four rigorous impact evaluations using RCT designs, two process and program evaluations, one learning agenda and one comprehensive literature review) in five countries:

Studies Led

 

Four RCTs

MAP LAC

Two process and program evaluations

Two more learning efforts

Related Staff

Nancy  Murray

Nancy Murray

Senior Fellow

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Larissa  Campuzano

Larissa Campuzano

Principal Researcher

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Julieta  Lugo-Gil

Julieta Lugo-Gil

Principal Researcher

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Sarah Humpage  Liuzzi

Sarah Humpage Liuzzi

Senior Researcher

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Emilie Bagby

Emilie Bagby

Director, International Education

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Randall Blair

Randall Blair

Principal Researcher

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Galina  Lapadatova

Galina Lapadatova

Researcher

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Ivonne Padilla

Ivonne Padilla

Researcher

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